ope Larry
set the levers on second gear, as he did not want to take any
chances with the auto. Up and up they went, their eyes strained
through the dust for the sight of a green car, for that was the
color of the machine in which rode the men who had taken Mr. Potter
away.

"Hark!" exclaimed Grace, suddenly. "It sounds like an auto just
ahead of us!"

"It is," declared Larry, whose quick ear had caught the chug-chug of
a motor.

An instant later they had rounded a turn. There, in front of them,
climbing the steep hill, was a green car. In it could be seen four
men.

"That's them!" cried Larry.

"Open her up! Throw in the high gear!" yelled Fritsch, who was now
as enthusiastic and as interested in the chase as were either of his
companions. "Let her rip!"

"Will she stand it?" asked Larry, shouting the words over his
shoulder to Grace and Fritsch in the tonneau.

"Sure!"

There was a grinding noise as Larry threw in the high-speed gear.
The auto hung back for an instant because of the sudden change. The
motor seemed to groan at the unexpected load thrown on it. Then,
like a gallant horse responding to the call of its rider, the car
leaped ahead.

"Hurrah!" cried Larry. "She'll do it! We'll catch 'em!"

The distance between the two cars was lessening. Those in the green
machine seemed unaware of the approach of their pursuers.

"Can you see your father?" asked the German of Grace.

"I'm not sure. It looks like him!"

She stood up in the tonneau, holding to the back of the seat in
front of her to steady herself against the swaying of the car.

Just then Larry blew a blast on the horn. As the deep tone responded
to his pressure on the big rubber bulb the men in the green machine
looked back. At the sight of one of the faces Grace cried.

"It's father! It's father!"

Above the noise made by the two autos the millionaire heard his
daughter's voice. He stood up and, leaning over the back of the
seat, waved his hand to her. Then one of the men sitting beside him
forcibly drew the millionaire down.

"Oh! We must get to him!" cried Grace. "They may do him some harm!
Hurry, Larry!"

"Shove her over a few more notches!" cried Fritsch. "She'll take
more gasolene!"

Larry obeyed the instructions of the German reporter. The car seemed
to feel new life and leaped ahead. The distance from the other car
was steadily growing less. Fritsch's confidence in his machine was
not misplaced. But the men in the green